Number of scheduled airline seats to Hawaii declines

Scheduled airline seats to Hawaii this fall are 2.1 percent lower than in the same September-November period last year.

The Hawaii Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism said 1.9 million seats are scheduled on nonstop flights to Hawaii over the three months.

Seats on flights from the U.S. Mainland are expected to decrease 3.6 percent to 1.3 million. Seats from the U.S. West will drop 2.4 percent, while seats from the U.S. East will be down 10.3 percent, according to state estimates.

The state expects fewer seats from San Jose, down 29.7 percent, and San Diego, down 5.6 percent. Seats from Salt Lake City are expected to be down 33.2 percent and Sacramento, down 4.5 percent.

Seats from Los Angeles and Seattle are projected to be down 3.1 percent and 7.9 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, Las Vegas is projected to be up 16.1 percent.

Seats on flights from Anchorage and Portland also are expected to increase, up 22.4 percent and 9.2 percent, respectively.

International flights are expected to be up 1.5 percent. Seats on flights from Japan are projected to be up 3.5 percent.

Canada flights, however, are expected to be down 6.1 percent.

Air seats to each of the major islands are expected to be down, except for the Big Island, which is expecting a nearly 12 percent increase:

Honolulu, down 3.6 percent to 1.4 million seats;
Kahului, Maui, down 0.4 percent to 298,554 seats;
Kona, on the Big Island, up 11.7 percent to 123,198 seats; and
Lihue, Kauai, down 0.3 percent to 91,408 seats.

The DBEDT analysis is based on scheduled flights as noted in the Official Airline Guide flight schedules as of August 2009 and are subject to change.